I'm Gonna Make This Place Your Home
by GettingThere93
Summary: Slavery AU. An original character rescues Abed, Jeff, and Annie from slavery. No depictions of violence. Family feels and eventual Troy/Abed :) If you'd like to see more of this fic, please let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!
1. Chapter 1: The First Day

When Sadie walked in on Saturday afternoon, there wasn't a single empty cage in the slave adoption centre. But even though every cage housed a starving, naked person, you could hear a pin drop. _This must be one of those places that uses shock collars, _she thought.

Sadie stood in front of the wall of cages and tried to imagine which slave had the lowest chance of being adopted. Generally if a person could demonstrate they were conscious, they at least had some chance of being chosen, so she looked for a slave who wasn't moving. After a few minutes, she decided on a slave who was lying in fetal position. The sticker on his cage said: "Male, 23 years."

"Are you sure you want this one?" the attendant asked. "I don't know how long he'll last. He hasn't been eating, and he sleeps a lot."

"I'm with Rescue and Release. If he doesn't have long to live, I want to give him a good home while he's still here."

"Oh ya, I've heard of you guys. I'll let him out of the cage for you. Be careful 'cause he spooks easy."

The attendant unlocked the front door of the man's cage, but he didn't move a muscle. She started to attach a harness to him, but Sadie stopped her.

"Don't drag him out. I'd like to talk to him first if that's okay."

"All right. I'll leave the door open. Just let me know if you need anything."

Sadie got down on her knees in front of the open cage. "Hello in there," she said with a soft voice.

The man didn't move.

"Hello there, my name is Sadie."

No response.

"I'm sorry to wake you up. I'm with an organization called Rescue and Release, and I'd like to take you somewhere where you can sleep more comfortably. I know that you can't speak right now because of the collar, but if you're awake, could you please knock once?"

After a moment, Sadie heard the man's knuckles knock lightly on the metal floor of his cage.

"Thanks for letting me know you're awake. I'd like to take you somewhere where you can sleep in a bed, have warm clothing, and have good food to eat. Would you like to come with me? Please knock once for no, and twice for yes."

Immediately, Sadie heard two light knocks.

"Great. As soon as we're out of here, I'm going to take off your shock collar so you can speak. Now, I need to know if you can come out of your cage and stand up by yourself. Knock once for yes, and twice for no."

The man knocked once.

"Okay. If you're a bit shaky on your feet, that's fine. I'll be right here to support you. You can get out of the cage whenever you're ready."

Sadie stayed on her knees and inched back from the cage to give the man room to climb out. At first, he didn't move at all and Sadie worried that he might not be able to stand on his own. But eventually, the young man got onto his hands and knees and crawled backwards out of the cage. Once he was out, he stayed on his knees and turned to face Sadie, keeping his head low and his eyes locked on the floor.

"All right, I'm going to get up so I can support you when you stand. Remember, if you feel shaky, just reach out for me and I'll make sure you don't fall." Gradually, Sadie got up and put her arms out.

The man made sure to keep his eyes locked on the floor as he bent one knee, placed his hands on it, and pushed himself upwards. When he got to his feet, he almost lost his balance but regained it without having to reach for Sadie. Now he stood in front of her with his head bowed.

"Great job. Now, I have some slippers in my bag that I'd like you to put on. I'm going to put them down on the floor and you can slip into them." Sadie got the soft, sheepskin slippers out of her bag and the man put them on.

"Now we need to go to the registration desk. I'd like you to take my arm when we're walking for the rest of today, just in case."

Sadie put out her arm for support and the man tentatively linked arms with her as they walked towards the registration desk. Sadie quickly filled out the necessary forms as the young man held onto the side of the desk for support. Once the clerk gave Sadie license tags that were inscribed with the number tattooed on the man's arm, she returned the shock collar and led the man to her car.

"Because eye contact is difficult for you today, I'd like you to sit in the backseat. That way we'll be able to talk without having to look at each other. Is that okay?"

The man nodded a quick yes. He leaned against the trunk while Sadie opened the back door and pulled out a robe for him to put on.

"This is for you to wear. It belongs to you, and you can put it on right now if you like."

The man nodded a fervent yes, then lowered himself onto his knees and bowed his head even more than usual. At this, Sadie took a step back and squatted onto the ground in front of him.

"You don't need to kneel on the ground," she said, very softly. "I would like you to stand up, put on the robe, and then sit in the backseat of the car. Please."

The young man immediately stood, put the robe on, and climbed into the backseat. Sadie sat in the driver's seat and was careful not to turn around and look at the man. "I know the next little while will probably be very confusing for you. But I just want you to know that you haven't done anything wrong. I know all you're doing is what you've been taught."

Sadie watched in the rearview mirror as the man sat in silence and stared at his lap. "I also want to let you know that you're free to talk whenever you like, about whatever you like. If you need something or have something you want to tell me, I'll always listen."

No response.

"Let's start with getting on a first name basis. In case you forgot, my name is Sadie. What's your name?"

"Whatever you wish it to be, mistress," the man replied in an almost whisper.

"What did your parents name you?"

"Abed, mistress."

"It's very nice to meet you, Abed."

"The pleasure is all mine, mistress." Abed's voice was small and flat.

"I understand this is a hard pattern to break, but I want you to know that you don't have to call me 'mistress.' You can call me Sadie, or friend, or even ma'am. If you feel more comfortable calling me mistress, that's okay, but you'll never get in trouble for calling me Sadie."

They sat in silence while Abed tried to make sense of what he'd just been told. His mind worked overtime to come up with the safest thing for him to call his new owner.

"Thank you, Mistress Sadie," he eventually replied.

"You don't have to thank me, Abed."

"Yes, Mistress Sadie."

Sadie backed the car out of the parking lot and gave Abed a rest from talking. _This has to be a trick_, he thought. The slippers, the robe, being told he didn't have to say mistress. This was a height for him to drop from when reality hit. _None of this is real, none of this is real. It's all a lie, it's all a lie, it's all a lie._

When they arrived at Sadie's apartment building, she parked the car and gave Abed her arm to steady himself as they walked up the stairs and inside the apartment. The place wasn't much, but she had a spare room where Abed would sleep, and she hoped she could make him as comfortable here as Annie and Jeff had been.

Abed kept his eyes on his slippers as he crossed the threshold into his new home. He closed and locked the door behind him and stood completely still, waiting to be given orders.

"Welcome to your new home!" Sadie said. "This is your space as much as it is mine. If there's anything you need, or want, or can't find, just let me know."

"Yes, Mistress Sadie."

"All right, now it's choices time. What would you like to do first? Get dressed, use the washroom, or have something to eat? Remember, there's no wrong answer."

Abed knew he couldn't guess the right answer, so he just went with the truth. "May I please use the washroom, Mistress Sadie?"

"Of course you can. The bathroom's right here."

Abed didn't see which door she'd gestured to since his head was down, so he followed in the direction of her voice and hoped he'd find the bathroom. He opened the first door he found and panicked when he looked up and saw it was a bedroom. Then he felt Sadie's presence come up behind him. Abed instantly dropped to the floor and bowed his head low.

"I'm so sorry, mistress!" He dug his nails into the back of his hand.

Sadie saw what Abed was doing and sat down on the floor in front of him. "Abed, please stop hurting your hand." The young man immediately folded his hands and started rocking back and forth.

"You haven't done anything wrong," she soothed. "I know that when you keep your head down, it's hard for you to see where you're going. I know that you meant to go to the bathroom, but I'm actually happy you came in here because this is _your_ room. I washed the sheets and made the bed so you could sleep here tonight."

Abed didn't understand half of what she'd said. He was a slave, and he slept in a cage. That was how life worked. Sadie must have been playing the most evil mind game a master or mistress had ever played on him, and he wasn't going to fall for it. He stayed kneeling on the ground with his head down, rocking, and wasn't going to get up until he was told to.

As she waited for Abed to calm down, Sadie realized that giving him choices might have been a bad idea. For Jeff and Annie, learning they could safely make choices was a groundbreaking moment. But apparently, what worked for them wasn't going to work for Abed. So she decided to take a different approach.

"Abed, I'm so sorry I frightened you. From now on, I'm going to make things very clear so there aren't any misunderstandings. I'd like you to please stand up and lift your head."

The young man obeyed.

"Thank you. Now I'd like you to please use the washroom, wash your hands, and come back to see me in the bedroom."

"Yes, mistress." Abed hurried off to the bathroom, and when he returned, Sadie had laid out a pair of flannel pyjamas for him on the bed.

"I'd like you to change into these pyjamas, put your slippers back on, and then come meet me in the kitchen."

"Yes, mistress," Abed replied, terrified.

Sadie left the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She went to the kitchen, got out a pen and a piece of paper, and at the top of the sheet wrote: House Rules

Before she was able to draft rule one, Abed was in the kitchen in his pyjamas and slippers, kneeling on the ground next to her with his head lowered.

"Abed, I'd like you to sit in the chair next to me, please."

"Yes, mistress," he said, sitting next to her.

"I'm going to write up a list of house rules. I'm putting them in place because I want you to understand the kind of relationship I'd like us to have."

"Yes, mistress." _I knew this was coming. I knew this was coming._

"All right. Rule number one…" Sadie still wasn't sure if Abed could read, so she made sure to say what she was writing out loud. She took a moment to think about Jeff and Annie's behaviours when they first arrived at the apartment and then decided on a rule. "Abed must sleep in his bed at night. Not under the bed, not on the floor - _in _the bed."

"Yes, mistress," he nodded.

"Rule number two. Abed must never be naked in front of Sadie. And Sadie must never be naked in front of Abed. All changes of clothes and bathroom visits must happen behind closed doors."

"Yes, mistress."

"Rule number three. When Abed needs to use the bathroom, he must not wait to ask Sadie if he is allowed to go. He must use the bathroom as soon as he needs to, no matter what time of day or night."

"Yes, mistress," Abed said, trying to memorize the first three rules.

By the time the list was finished, it read:

House Rules

1\. Abed must sleep in his bed at night. Not under the bed, not on the floor - in the bed.

2\. Abed must never be naked in front of Sadie. And Sadie must never be naked in front of Abed. All changes of clothes and bathroom visits must happen behind closed doors.

3\. When Abed needs to use the bathroom, he must not wait to ask Sadie if he is allowed to go. He must use the bathroom as soon as he needs to, no matter what time of day or night.

4\. Abed must eat when he is hungry. If he is not able to find something to eat on his own, he must tell Sadie that he is hungry. When Abed tells Sadie he is hungry, she must find him something to eat immediately.

5\. Abed must tell Sadie when he is sick, injured, or not feeling well. When Abed tells Sadie he is sick, injured, or not feeling well, Sadie must do whatever she can to help him heal and make him feel better.

6\. When Sadie is talking to Abed, he must make eye contact with her. When Abed is talking to Sadie, she must make eye contact with him.

7\. Abed must never kneel on the floor or bow his head to show respect to Sadie. If Abed wishes to show respect to Sadie, he must look her in the eye and say, "I respect you, Sadie." or "Thank you, Sadie."

8\. When Abed has a question about how he should behave in their shared apartment, he must ask Sadie the question. When Sadie answers the question, Abed must abide by Sadie's answer.

9\. If Abed ever feels afraid, hurt, scared, lonely, anxious, frightened, confused, nervous, distraught, annoyed, violated, victimized, offended, sad, depressed, mad, angry, or uncomfortable, he must tell Sadie immediately. Upon hearing that Abed is feeling any of these emotions, Sadie must do her very best to help make the emotion or emotions subside.

10\. Sadie must never perpetrate physical, verbal, or emotional violence of any kind against Abed. Similarly, Abed must never perpetrate physical, verbal, or emotional violence of any kind against Sadie.

11\. If there is any past, present, or future rule that Abed is not comfortable with, he must tell Sadie immediately. Upon hearing that Abed is uncomfortable with a rule, Sadie must do her very best to change or modify the rule to help him feel more comfortable.

Sadie hoped the rules would encourage Abed to speak more. "So," she started, "now that these are our official house rules, is there anything you'd like to tell me? Or ask me?"

Abed looked her in the eye and tried his very best to speak, but nothing came out. He wanted to follow the rules and be a good slave, and not get hurt, and do everything right, but speaking freely was so foreign to him that he wasn't sure he could do it. He stared at Sadie, desperately trying to make his mouth form words, but nothing came. He remembered that there was a rule against Sadie hurting him, but he knew there was no rule against him hurting himself. So he lowered his head and began digging his nails into the back of his hand.

"Abed, please don't hurt your hand." Sadie took both of Abed's hands in hers. "I'd like you to close your eyes, breathe in, hold your breath for 5 seconds, and breathe out." Abed did as he was told. "Now again. Breathe in, hold, breathe out." Sadie told Abed to repeat the action a few times until she saw he was calmer, then asked him to open his eyes.

"I'm sorry Abed, did the rules scare you?"

Abed hesitated, then decided to keep his head down. "No, mistress."

"Then what's the matter?"

He was silent for a moment. "It's hard for me to talk and look in your eyes at the same time, mistress."

"That's okay. We can change that rule." Sadie picked up her pen, crossed out rule six and rewrote it. When she was finished, she read it aloud to Abed. "When Sadie is talking to Abed, he must try to make eye contact with her when he can. When Abed is talking to Sadie, she must try to make eye contact with him when she can. How does that sound?"

"I can do that, mistress. Thank you, mistress."

"No problem. And one more thing." Sadie changed rule ten then read it aloud. "Sadie must never perpetrate physical, verbal, or emotional violence of any kind against Abed or herself. Similarly, Abed must never perpetrate physical, verbal, or emotional violence of any kind against Sadie or himself. Think you can stick to that?"

"Yes, mistress."

"Good. Now, would you like something to eat? I made a lasagna yesterday and I can heat some up for each of us."

"Yes, mistress. Thank you, mistress." He was still unable to make eye contact.

"You're more than welcome." Sadie made a point of cutting the lasagna on the table in front of Abed so he could see that both of their pieces came from the same dish. Annie and Jeff had each told her their own horror story about being tricked into eating food laced with drugs, so Sadie wanted to make sure that Abed knew what he was eating was safe.

Once the lasagna was being heated up in the microwave, Sadie sat back down next to Abed. "Is there anywhere on your body that hurts? Do you feel sick at all?"

Abed closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, mistress. My back hurts, mistress."

"Anywhere else?"

"Yes, mistress. My head, my stomach, and my teeth hurt, mistress."

Abed was terrified. He'd never told any of his masters or mistresses when he was in pain before. Since he wasn't allowed to hurt himself, he began to rock back and forth in his chair, desperately trying to self-soothe.

"Okay. I'm going to give you a Tylenol for the pain. I'll take one too so you know it's safe. I'm hoping you'll feel better after you've eaten and slept, but if you don't, let me know. I know it's going to be a long time before you're ready to see a doctor, but when you're ready, I'll be more than happy to take you. But you don't need to worry about that today."

"Yes, mistress. Thank you, mistress." He was even more scared of doctors than he was of Sadie. He rocked harder.

"Abed, you can keep rocking if you need to, but could you also try doing the breathing exercise I taught you?"

"Yes, mistress."

As Abed took deep breaths, Sadie got out the bottle of Tylenol and two small glasses of orange juice. They each took a pill, then the microwave beeped. Sadie took out the food and set in on the table and they ate their dinner in silence.

"Would you like some chocolate for dessert?"

"Yes, please, mistress." He still wasn't able to look at her.

Sadie cleared the table then took a chocolate bar out of a kitchen drawer and broke it in half, handing one half to Abed. "How 'bout we watch a movie?"

"Yes, please, mistress."

Abed followed Sadie to the living room sofa and she turned on the tv. There was a movie on about a young slave girl who gets adopted and freed by a rich family. Sadie had watched the same movie once with Annie, and she'd cried happy tears and hugged Sadie.

"That's like me! You rescued me!" she'd said, squeezing Sadie tighter and reaching for a Kleenex.

Sadie knew she wouldn't get the same reaction from Abed, but it was a light enough movie that it was safe to watch with him. They ate their chocolate and watched the movie in silence, and before it was over, Abed had fallen asleep and was snoring softly.

Sadie let Abed sleep on the sofa until 10pm, then she gently woke him up and guided him to his bed. He fell onto the forest green bedspread and slept there until morning.


	2. Chapter 2: The Family

Abed woke up the next morning in a place he didn't recognize. He wasn't in his cage at the shelter, and he was wearing soft, flannel pyjamas. He recognized the forest green bedspread he was lying on from the day before. The clock on the bedside table next to him read 10:48 am.

_It's late! I'm going to get in trouble! Where's Sadie? _

Abed bounded out of bed, flung his bedroom door open, and saw Sadie at the kitchen table on her laptop with a full plate of breakfast beside her.

"Good morning!" she greeted. "I made pancakes, sausage, eggs, and bacon. Would you like some?"

"Yes, please, mistress." As an experiment, he slowly crossed the living room and sat down at the table without being told he was allowed. Sadie smiled at him and sipped her tea.

"Would you like some tea? I just boiled the kettle and it's still hot."

"Yes, please, mistress."

Abed ate slowly. The plate had been filled before he got there, so he knew there was a chance it was poisoned, but he was more afraid of what might happen if he didn't eat the food he was offered. Sadie handed him the cup of tea and he drank it for the same reason.

She sat back down at the table. "So I wanted to ask you if it's all right if my brother and sister come over for dinner tonight?

Abed nodded, swallowing his mouthful of food. "Yes, mistress."

"There are some pictures of them on the fridge if you'd like to take a look."

"Yes, mistress." Abed got up and went to the fridge to see the photos. There were lots of pictures of a tall, blond man and a short, brunette girl hugging Sadie and smiling. A few of the pictures were taken in the apartment, but most of the photos showed the family in front of different buildings. In one of the pictures, the three of them were eating ice cream on a park bench.

Sadie came over to the fridge to point out different photos. "These two in front of the courthouse are my favourite. This is the day Jeff got his freedom papers, and this one with Jeff and Annie is from the day Annie got hers. I didn't have a lot of money when Jeff first came to live with me, so we didn't do a lot of travelling, but by the time Annie came, I'd saved up some money and Jeff came with us on a few trips." She pointed to different groups of pictures. "These were taken in New York, these are from our trip to San Francisco, and this is the Grand Canyon."

Abed stared at the photos of the courthouse. _Freedom papers? Why did her brother and sister need freedom papers?_ He thought he remembered a rule about being allowed to ask questions, so he took a chance.

"Mistress?" His voice was almost a whisper.

"Yes?"

"Am I allowed to ask you a question, mistress?"

"Of course, anytime."

"Why did your brother and sister need to be freed, mistress?"

"Well, Jeff and Annie aren't my siblings by blood. I adopted each of them from a slave shelter and then freed them. I don't know if you remember me telling you this yesterday, but I'm part of an organization called Rescue and Release. I can show you their website if you like. Are you able to read? If you're not, that's okay, and if you can, that's okay too."

Abed lowered his eyes and squeezed his hand. "I… can read, mistress."

"That's great! That means you can use my present. Go look in the top drawer of your desk."

Abed looked confused.

"Just go. I'm right behind you."

Abed slowly walked to his bedroom. When he got to his desk, he opened the top drawer and found a laptop. He turned to Sadie. "Is this really for me, mistress?"

"Yes! It's my old laptop. I got a new one a couple of years ago so I had an extra. Annie used it when she lived here, but she took all of her stuff off of it when she left. It's all yours!"

"Am I allowed to go on the internet, mistress?"

"Of course!"

"Thank you, mistress!" A smile spread across Abed's face. _I can find people. I can find my parents!_

"You're more than welcome, Abed."

* * *

That afternoon, Sadie called Annie and Jeff. They were coming over for dinner at 6:30 and couldn't wait to meet Abed. After taking a shower and putting on some real clothes, Abed spent his time searching the internet for ways of finding his parents, but he couldn't get very far without freedom papers. Because he'd been born into slavery, he never knew his family name, and that information, he discovered, was not even accessible to Sadie, his legal owner. From the moment that a person became a registered slave, information about their heritage was only accessible to the Federal Department of Enslaved Persons. When a slave became a free person, the only background information about themselves they had access to were the full names of their two biological parents. The FDEP did this to make it more difficult for freed slaves to locate and purchase siblings and other family members.

Abed didn't know if he had any siblings, but the only way he could find out would be to find his parents first. Because he had a first name that was uncommon in the US, he tried searching for himself online, but was only able to find an old listing from when he was for sale as a baby. The only reason he even knew his real first name was because the child slave centre that bought and raised him let him keep it, and that, he discovered, was rare. There were so many stories online of recently freed slaves who'd only just discovered the names they were given by their parents. Abed felt lucky that he'd known his all his life.

After a few hours of legal research, Abed checked out the Rescue and Release website, and was relieved to discover they were a legitimate organization that helped free slaves and reunite them with their families. There was even a forum where slaves living with an R&R member could report their location and mark themselves safe on a map. Abed did this and then posted to the forum for Denver, Colorado.

_Hello internet! My name is Abed and I'm a 23-year-old slave living with a member of Rescue & Release in Denver. Mom and Dad, if you read this one day, I want you to know that I'm safe and living with a woman who's taking good care of me. If you want to get in touch, please call R&R Denver as soon as you can!_

There was also another forum for recently rescued slaves to talk to each other about their experiences with Rescue and Release. Nathan from Wichita was the most recent poster.

_Been living with the wonderful Mackenzie family for almost a week now. Oh my god, it feels so good to eat real food! I was born into slavery and I never had a master who let me eat table scraps, so this is all new to me! I would have to say my favourite foods so far are macaroni and cheese and chocolate cake :) Any other suggestions of foods I should try?_

Abed decided to respond to Nathan's post.

_So happy to hear you're safe, Nathan. I was also born into slavery, so people food is a new experience for me too! I haven't tried macaroni or cake yet, but I would recommend lasagna and pancakes. They're my favourites so far!_

As Abed finished his post, the doorbell rang and he knew it must be Annie and Jeff. He was nervous to meet them, but also excited since this was the first time he'd ever met a freed slave. Part of his brain was trying to convince him that this was actually all a trap, and that Annie and Jeff were going to buy him from Sadie and beat him to death. But as soon as he came out of his bedroom and saw Annie hugging Sadie, that part of his brain shut up.

"Hi! How are you?" Sadie said as she hugged Annie.

"I'm good, I'm good! I would be better if this one ever cleaned up after himself, but other than that I'm good." Annie looked over at Jeff with a smirk on her face.

"Hey, sis," Jeff said as he wrapped his arms around Sadie and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Hey, bro. Good to see you," Sadie replied, patting Jeff on the back.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you!" Annie said, looking at Abed.

"Hey man," Jeff shook Abed's hand. His grip was very strong, and Abed was a little frightened when he felt it.

"You're very strong," he told Jeff sheepishly.

Jeff immediately got down on his knees in front of Abed. "I'm a big guy, but I never hurt anybody. You're safe now, and you are the luckiest guy in the world to be living with Sadie. She's the best. And I'm not just saying that because she's my sister."

"Come in, come in! Sit down, eat! I made shepherd's pie."

"Thank god, I'm starving!" Jeff exclaimed.

Annie turned to Sadie. "He's on one of those crazy diets again. Something about his six pack. But he decided to take the night off for your cooking."

Sadie smiled. "We've never been four around our little table before! How are we all going to fit?"

"I can sit on the floor," Abed said quietly.

"No, of course not," Sadie replied.

The four of them squeezed around the tiny kitchen table, and Sadie served everyone some of her homemade shepherd's pie. As soon as Jeff got his, he emptied an enormous amount of ketchup on top and took a huge bite.

Annie turned to Abed. "Some people like it with ketchup. I personally don't, but you should try a little and see if you like it." Annie handed him the ketchup bottle and Abed squeezed some onto the corner of his dinner. He took a bite. He would have to tell Nathan to try shepherd's pie too.

"So how's work?" Sadie asked Jeff.

"Fine, fine. We've been getting a lot of clothing inventory, which is really weird to me, but I guess one stop shopping is the way of the future."

"Where do you work?" Abed asked.

"We both work at Safeway," Annie answered, "I'm a cashier and Jeff's a stock clerk. He helped me get the job there."

"Ya, and guess who's employee of the month, again. This kid right here!" Jeff said as he ruffled Annie's hair. She beamed over the praise.

"Congratulations! That's wonderful!" Sadie smiled.

As Jeff, Annie, and Sadie caught up on the week's events, Abed ate his dinner, feeling out of place. Just as he was about to take another bite, Annie looked at him. "So Abed, how are you liking it here so far? Sadie's a great cook, isn't she?"

"Yes, very," he answered with his mouth full. "I really like it here. I'm sorry I was so scared yesterday," he added, looking at Sadie.

"Hey buddy, that's normal," Jeff reassured. "I was super scared when I first came to live with Sadie. I was so scared I didn't sleep in my bed for a week!"

"Where did you sleep?" Abed asked.

"_Under _the bed."

"That's why I made sleeping _in_ the bed a rule."

"Wait, you have rules? Sadie never gave us rules," Jeff said, confused.

"No, no. They aren't really rules. Here, look." Sadie got the list of house rules out of the drawer to show Jeff and Annie.

"Oh, rules like this!" Annie said, after she'd read the first few. "Geez, I wish I had these when I first came here. No wonder you've adjusted so quickly."

"At first I tried giving him choices like what worked with you and Jeff, but that was too much for him. It just made things worse. So I improvised. It was a little tricky at first, but after we made some adjustments, it seems like the house rules are working out."

"Ya, I can see why you needed to change the eye contact thing," Jeff said, "That's super hard in the beginning."

"I like number eleven" Annie said, handing the list back to Sadie.

"Ya, that's a really good one," Jeff added.

Sadie put the list back in the drawer and sat down next to Abed. "You know we only have the rules to keep you safe and healthy, right?"

"I know," Abed replied, taking the last bite of his dinner.

"Oh, and for dessert I have ice cream."

"Excellent," Jeff said, helping his sisters clear the table.

As Sadie dished the ice cream into bowls and put on the kettle for tea, Annie washed the dishes and Jeff dried.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Abed asked, as he sat idle at the table, very confused.

"Nope, you're a new arrival. And that means no chores for a while, right Sadie?" Annie asked.

"That's right. Abed, you're not going to do any housework for a month. You've done enough, and now it's your time to take a break."

When the dishes were done, Sadie, Jeff, and Annie sat back down at the table and ate their ice cream, chatting and laughing. Abed watched them.

"Is everything okay, Abed?" Annie asked.

"Is it like this all the time?" The siblings all looked at Abed, unsure of what he meant.

"Like what?" Sadie asked.

"Is everyone always happy like this?"

"Well no," Sadie answered, "we have our down times too. But we get through them together."

"Do you ever fight?" Abed asked.

Jeff took this one. "If you mean hitting and yelling at each other, no. That's never happened and it'll never happen. If you mean getting annoyed with each other and getting on each other's nerves, then yes. _All_ the time." He looked at Annie.

"It's not my fault you don't apply yourself at work."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Oh, here we go…"

"I just think that if you tried a little harder to impress Stephanie that you could be employee of the month sometimes too! And maybe even be manager one day! Don't you think so, Sadie?"

"I'm not getting between you two on this one. And I don't think this is the time to talk about it." Sadie looked at Abed and then back at her brother and sister.

"No, I think he should see us argue," Jeff said. "If he's going to be part of the family, he should know we're not perfect."

"Oh, we're definitely not perfect," Annie said.

Just then, the kettle boiled and Sadie and Annie went to make everyone's tea.

"Were you really a slave?" Abed asked Jeff. "You're so big and strong."

"Yes, I was." Jeff rolled up his sleeve and showed Abed the scar from where his slave tattoo was removed. "When Sadie found me, I was very thin. Even thinner than you are now. But when I came to live with her, she cooked for me every day. And she took me to the doctor, and taught me to read, and did everything a good big sister does." Sadie brought Jeff his tea and hugged him from behind.

"You didn't know how to read?" Abed asked.

"No, I didn't. Do you?"

"Ya, the child slave centre I grew up in taught me."

"Did you grow up in Denver?" Annie asked. "We might've been bought by the same one. Mine taught me too."

"No, I grew up in Colorado Springs."

"Well anyway, it's great that you know how to read," Jeff said, sipping his tea. "You'll have less to catch up on when you apply for college."

"I'm going to college?"

"Oh course you are! If you want to, that is," Sadie answered. "As soon as you're free, you can go to Freed People's College, just like Jeff and Annie are going to."

"We start in the fall! I'm so excited," Annie smiled.

"You two must be very smart to both be going to college."

"Well, it's not Harvard," Jeff said, "If you can read and write and do a little math, you get in. You can take high school equivalency courses there, too. That's what I'll be doing first. But Einstein over here got into the college program right off the bat!"

"I'm so proud of you." Sadie rubbed Annie's shoulder.

"Congratulations! That's a big accomplishment."

"Thank you. I studied really hard for the entrance exam. And Sadie helped. If you decide to go, I'll definitely help you too. If you already know how to read, it's really not that hard."

"Okay Einstein, don't get the boy's hopes up." Jeff turned to Abed. "If you have to take high school equivalency classes, that's fine too."

"So what do you want to do after you graduate college?" Abed asked Annie.

"Well, after I finish my Bachelor's in Sociology," Annie started, "I'd like to go to law school. That's the dream, but we'll see what happens."

"You can become a lawyer if you were a slave?"

"Yes, you can! A few years ago the Colorado bar started accepting lawyers from FPC. You still can't become a doctor, or an engineer, or a pilot, or _lots _of other jobs if you used to be a slave, but at least it's a first step."

"And what do you want to do after college?" Abed asked Jeff.

"Well, I don't know if this is ever going to happen, but my dream is to be a teacher like Sadie was."

"You used to be a teacher?"

"Yes, I was. I taught high school English until the school board found out I was a member of Rescue and Release. But then I got my job at Friend Indeed, so it all worked out for the best."

"What's Friend Indeed?"

"We're an anti-slavery political advocacy and lobbyist group, which basically means we try to influence laws affecting enslaved people, with the goal of ending human slavery."

"Did you used to be a slave too?"

"No, I grew up free. But I lived in foster care since I was very young, and a lot of the families I lived with had slaves. I grew up watching people be badly abused and I wanted to help make it stop. So when I was old enough, and had enough money, I joined R&R and brought Jeff home. And then a year later, Annie came to live with me." Sadie took each of her siblings' hands in hers. "And now we're one big, mostly happy, family."

"And we're so glad you're going to be a part of it," Annie added, giving Abed's shoulder a squeeze with her free hand.

In that moment, Abed felt so lucky to be in this kitchen with these people that he couldn't fully express it in words. So he said what he knew how to say. "Thank you, Sadie."

"You don't have to thank me, Abed. We're all really happy you're here."


End file.
